José Enrique Ona Selfa

[tricotineacetat]

Looking back on some of his older collections that were produced under his own name (F/W 2002, in particular), I was wondering if anybody knew what has happened to his line... did he close down due to his job as creative director of Loewe? I liked his signature line a lot, it looks very refined and detailed, yet it doesn´t look too restricted or "madame" (I almost find it comfortable with all the soft tweeds and knit)... here are some pics to refresh your minds... enjoy

 

[tricotineacetat]

Damn it... they somehow didn´t appear in my post... here they are then:

 

[faust]

I beleive he did close his own line when he went to work for Loewe. I love it very much as well. If you want to see more images, pick up a book called Young Belgian Fashion Design.

 

[AlexN]

I like this. Very easy and wearable, but very cool. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Lena]

is he still with Loewe? i think they are looking for a replacement..
i used to like his own line but i wonder what is he doing those days

 

[tricotineacetat]

Loewe never really cought much attention from the press, and even though I like what he did with his own label, I think most of what he did for Loewe was just average... nothing really outstanding at all. It definitely lacks some sort of an edge.

Financing one´s own independent collection can be hard at times, but what I saw here (in his F/W 2002 collection) looks much more convincing, wearable and desirable without being boring - Most of it could have been every season or none, it´s simply good design and doesn´t look dated to me... sad!

 

[Lena]

Loewe had quite some commercial prestige while Rodrigues was still there

i wonder if he's still at Loewe though
the problem with Ona Selfa was that his pick was on knits/jerseys..
Loewe is a leather house ...so
initially the Loewe choice was (supposed to be) between Jose and Sophia Kokosalaki, guess she was lucky but then maybe she could have done a better job for the label.

*and dont start me on financing an indie label, season after season

 

[tricotineacetat]

Come on Lena, I didn´t want to, this was just to say that he was better at his own label than Loewe and that I felt sorry about him closing his business, I never intended to start a discussion on financing a label...!

 

[Scott]

Well,Lena,you also have to admit that Rodriguez also had alot of hype and attention behind him starting at Loewe. Ona Selfa,just has never had alot of press before...so nobody really knew anything about him...nor do they still.

That said,I was never really a big fan of José,to be honest. He's got alot of wonderful design elements,certainly,but therein lies a certain lack of creativity.....it's always been just a tad too commercial for my taste. Which surprises me because one would expect something like that to gain customs.

 

[cerfas]

S/S 2001
from firstview

 

[cerfas]

Sometimes it's very hard to ignore the shoes, which I find ugly

 

[cerfas]

S/S 02
firstview

 

[cerfas]

F/W 2002
firstview

 

[cerfas]

More:

 

[cerfas]

Not the most THRILLING stuff ever but I really like some of the jackets...I agree Scott though--something feels missing
Too safe too often

 

[tricotineacetat]

Thanks for posting these, Cerfas... I actually like the fact that his clothes never seem so busy, it´s all very commercial here, but there´s a difference between New-York-collection-being-commercial and this one. I´ve been looking through the f/w 2002 collection again and I found it in no way dated, most of this could have been now, the simplicity, the clean lines, but broken with something quirky underneath, such as the long coat with historical references in the last picture. I also like the chunky knits with pencil skirt combo, much nicer than Alexander McQueen F/W 2005 (which I think, goes in a similar direction than José Enrique´s fall collection).

 

[faust]

DELICIOUS!!! Thanks, cerfas.

 

[cerfas]

Quite welcome, faust